Azinger to address City Commission

Paul Azinger will address the City of Sarasota Commission meeting on Monday night in support of the Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Club, a non-profit organization with initiatives that it hopes the city will ultimately adopt to address the future of the historic municipal course.
Azinger, who grew up playing at Bobby Jones where he once won the City Men's championship, has taken an active role in the push for improvements there since being approached by Shawn Pierson, the president of the Friends of Bobby Jones Golf Club, a year and a half ago.
Pierson said Monday is the night that Azinger, for whom the street leading into Bobby Jones, Azinger Way, has been named after, chose to make himself available to speak to the City Commission.
“He doesn't have any script from us,” Pierson said. “We want the City Commission to be introduced to Paul Azinger in a more formal way.”
The Friends of Bobby Jones hope that Azinger, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour who was the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2008, will have some influence on how the City Commission prioritizes the facility.

“I haven't talked to Paul about what he wants to say,” Pierson said. “He has a pretty clear idea of what he thinks Bobby Jones is to him, its place in his development and his career.

“His is one of those stories of a kid who wasn't introduced to golf through membership in a country club, but through public high school education and a municipal course.

“The course he played is not the course it is today.”

Pierson said the city was forced to spend nearly $100,000 last winter to construct temporary outdoor restrooms while repairs were being made to plumbing in the clubhouse at Bobby Jones Golf Club.

“That's one example of money spent on a way you wish you didn't have to,” Pierson said. “We're being forced into a corner of management by crisis and it's time to turn that around and manage in accordance with a plan. We 're spending money on a facility (clubhouse) we've already determined we want to demolish.”

He also pointed out that bridges on the course need replaced.

“We have bridges that are starting to fall apart that cross waterways on the golf course,” Pierson said.

Pierson said the city first hired the National Golf Foundation in 2008 and again in 2014 to make recommendations to upgrade Bobby Jones Golf Club, but no action has been taken by the city to develop a comprehensive master plan to move forward.

He also pointed out that the Bobby Jones Advisory Board has been disbanded due to budget constraints.

“There hasn't been very much opportunity for the City Commission to have a discussion among themselves about the future of Bobby Jones Golf Club and about what all their experts and consultants agree is a requirement for reinvestment in the infrastructure,”Pierson said. “They are all in agreement it needs attention and that kind of attention can only come at the commission level.”

Tom Balog

Tom Balog is a reporter for HT Golf. Contact him via email, or at (941) 315-0764.

Last modified: September 14, 2014
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